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Halifax Canoe Club |
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Competition NEW!
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Ullswater WeekendAugust 2007Six top class paddlers (?) from the HXCC went to the Glencoe/Fort William Area, they were:
Bank safety and camera crew were:
With the team planned, safety was easy using CLAP and general belittling through laughter. But seriously, Scotland can be serious and not for the faint hearted depending on your paddling so whilst here I tell stories of funny moments remember serious injury or death can occur so know your limit and do not paddle with me as I’ll encourage you push the risk envelope. We were missing Moz and his crew for the first week as he was, reportedly, practicing his moves in Halifax Pool on the boards. The first week started well with the third day being introduced to Haggis for breakfast and the decision to run the River Etive. The River Etive was running somewhere between low and medium levels and the get in point was in an awe inspiring setting of triple falls. It was a series of drops, surprisingly 3 big drops all with plunge pools at the bottom. We boofed, free wheeled and swam some of the drops. I had to show the group how real white water paddlers run drops and subsequently went backwards over the drop and bent by boat, I held back the pain well. After an hour of playing and filming we made our way down the river, it is unbelievable drop after drop and hours of inspection, high lights were ski jump falls, letterbox, gorges, and rock slides and finally right angle fall a 35ft monster. On the way down Face Splat Ian decide to run a 10ft drop after inspection to find it was only two feet deep. At the 35ft drop you had enough time to count to four! The best part of this drop was the top and looking over the edge taking a deep breath and ooooooffffff! Screams from Tom, splash and woow hooo! Unless you were Angry Beaver who decided to put his paddles across his face and yes he was spitting blood. After another Haggis breakfast four of us went to run the Leven. We had a long walk up to the large grade 5 drop. We did not run it as we could not see a safe line for play boats, so got in at the bottom. A nice river to run, with technical rapids about grade 3, with a fantastic play wave at the bottom. After another Haggis breakfast it was off to paddle a grade 2/3 paddle from Loch Oich to Loch Ness. Awesome views in the Great Glen and our chance to roll and show off in the Ness. Apparently after being pushed off a harbour wall, by Boyce (nothing to do with me at all), Tom decide to hold his breath as he was sure he saw the Monster or was that because of the pain of dropping 14ft on to flat water up side down? The same day we ran the Witch’s Cauldron, a 28 foot park and drop. Ian thought it would be fun to practice his style of a face splat boof. With light on our side we chose to run the R Arkraig too. This has to be one of the best short trips ever, with one grade 4 that was a comedy of errors for us but probably we under estimated the power and the size of our play boats. I performed a mystery move and stern stall all in one move and rolled twice, Safety Boyce was following but ran it well, Tom suffered a similar fate as me, as did Angry Beaver and Face Splat Ian noticed the carnage and took a different line. After much laughing we went to the end to be savaged by midges. The next river (after a Haggis breakfast) was the R Etive again this time with Diving Moz. The level was lower than the previous week but we still had as much fun at each others expense. I swam twice got pinned out side by boat to be crushed by Safety Boyce, he was OK. Moz and Ian decided to show us their diving prowess; even Tuff Guy Josh jumped in but learnt that Scottish water is cold. Angry Beaver ran the 35ft drop but this time landed it flat and surprising he could not talk but only yelp like a seal. Moz tried to melt down with interesting results. The final trip was the Falls Of Lora a 14ft play wave but we never saw it. We arrived on time and paddled the mother of all ferry glides to get the eddy behind the island. We made our way down to the rapids. We waited playing in the wave train and whirl pools that form. These whirls pools were up to 20ft across with a boat width hole in the middle!! After working out the whirl pools ran out of energy after about 30secs, I could not resist, so put the back end of my play boat down one of the holes. You guessed it - I went spinning all the way down holding my breath, duly was let go and popped back to the surface and rolled back up, scary and inspiring all in one go. I would not liked to have swam through one - ask Moz what it’s like; the whirl pool made light work of his creek boat. The wave never formed disappointed but not down trodden as to paddle here is truly amazing with amount of water that is moving. Obviously being in Scotland for 2 weeks we did many other things but I am sure you don’t want to hear my sailing exploits and other touristy things. Highlights are battered Haggis from Oban, Fort William and Fort Augustus. I will be going back with the usual open invites so watch this space. Thanks every one who went it was amazing and very supportive of you all. Note this is what HXCC is all about members making friends and improving your paddling experience so network and get to know like minded paddlers it’s GREAT! NEXT YEAR WE ARE CONSIDERING IRELAND IN AUGUST if you are interested please talk to me as I need help organising this trip if it is to be a success. Please note it will not be cheap so start saving. John Stopford. HXCC Member |
